Movie quotes are a beautiful but dangerous thing. It’s easy to take something a drunk, idiot of a screenwriter wrote in his room while his wife was serving him divorce papers as the gospel for how to live your life. However, if given the proper context, movies have the ability to remind us what’s important in life. And sometimes that can even come from the most unlikely of films.
1. “Well I would say that I’m just drifting. Here in the pool.” – Benjamin Braddock, The Graduate
Everyone thinks of “The Graduate” as a comedy about a guy sleeping with an older woman. But what it’s really about is a guy fresh out of college who doesn’t know what the fuck he’s going to do with his life. Anyone who’s worried that the listlessness of a college life is a brand new problem for our generation ought to watch “The Graduate” again. Our problems are not unique.
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2. “Remember, kid, there’s heroes and there’s legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Follow your heart, kid, and you’ll never go wrong.” – The Babe, The Sandlot
It’s corny and it’s for kids, but damn it if The Babe doesn’t always inspire me to chase my dreams every time I watch this scene. It’s actually quite poignant to think that even at the highest levels of success, there’s still a difference between the best of the best and those who are truly legendary. *cough* Brian O'Driscoll *cough*
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3. Adult Simba: I know what I have to do. But going back means I'll have to face my past. I've been running from it for so long.
[Rafiki hits Simba on the head with his stick]
Adult Simba: Ow! Jeez, what was that for?
Rafiki: It doesn't matter. It's in the past. - The Lion King
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The Lion King taught us some harsh lessons at a very young age, the most prominent in my eyes being that parents die, even big strong Dads that you never thought could be hurt. This quote however comes from the wisest of the blue bummed beings, Rafiki. Simba is basically whining about what a shit deal he got back on pride rock and the monkey so harshly reminds him that whatever happens in the past doesn't matter, it might hurt, but it is in fact in the past.
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4. “There is such a thing as manners, a way of treating people. These fish have manners.” – Jerry Maguire, Jerry Maguire
I have a tendency to be the sarcastic guy who never takes anything seriously, but I do try to slow down every now and then to remember that it’s a lot fucking easier to live your life if you’re not a dick to people. It’s a shocker how far simple manners will get you.
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5. “It’s not that I condone fascism or any ‘ism’ for that matter. Ism’s, in my opinion, are not good. A person should not believe in an ‘ism,’ he should believe in himself.” – Ferris Bueller, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off
I bet you thought I was gonna use the “life moves pretty fast” quote. You know what’s more important than stopping to smell the roses? Not getting caught up in a rigid set of beliefs and choosing to be your own person.
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6. “Winners forget they’re in a race, they just love to run. You try too hard.” – Simon Wilder, With Honors
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This is a perfect way of pointing out that desire trumps effort all day. You can grind and grind, but if your heart isn’t in it, you’ll never be as successful as the guy who truly loves what he’s doing. He’ll always get up earlier than you and he’ll always be better than you, because his motivation is more genuine. So do something you enjoy, because even if the work is backbreaking, you won’t even notice.
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7. “For us to live any other way was nuts. Uh, to us, those goody-good people who worked shitty jobs for bum paychecks and took the subway to work every day and worried about their bills were dead. I mean they were suckers. They had no balls. If we wanted something, we just took it.” – Henry Hill, Goodfellas
I’m not saying you should go out and steal stuff to not be a working scrub. The next part about this quote is Henry Hill talking about how if anyone got in his way, he’d just beat the shit out of them. But he has a point that the rote day-to-day of the everyday worker can be sad and pathetic if you allow yourself to sink into the mire of routine.
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8. "On any given Sunday you're gonna win or you're gonna lose. The point is - can you win or lose like a man?" - Tony D'Amato, Any Given Sunday
Any Given Sunday taught me a shit load but this line always struck a cord. SO many quotes are about how you take defeat, how you should pick yourself up after being shot down by life, but this one's about the fact that it could really go either way, and how you take a win is just as important as how you take a loss.
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9. “I don’t have to take this abuse from you. I’ve got hundreds of people dying to abuse me.” – Peter Venkman, Ghostbusters
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Everyone in your life will give you shit. It helps to know that you can sometimes remind people you don’t have to take their specific shit.
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10. "Just keep swimming" - Dory, Finding Nemo
Because if you don't, let's face it - you'll eventually sink.
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11. “I never liked you. You know why? You don’t curse. I don’t trust a man who doesn’t curse.” – Captain Yardley, Falling Down
This falls into the same category as my favorite Mark Twain quote: “I haven’t a particle of confidence in a man who has no redeeming petty vices whatsoever.” If you don’t swear, drink, or cause a ruckus every now and then, I’m convinced that you are either a boring person I don’t want to know or a dangerous sociopath. Either way, loosen up a bit.
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12. "It could be worse. A woman could cut off your penis while you're sleeping and toss it out the window of a moving car." - Tyler Durden, Fight Club
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The reality is that Fight Club has so many epic quotes that give such a depressingly fresh look at the reality of existance that it's just too difficult to choose. So I chose this one. Because it could always, always, be worse.
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13. “You think I’m amazing. You do. Cause that’s who I told you I’d be. That was the game plan.” – Harmony Lane, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
First off, if you haven’t seen “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,” get off your ass and do it. I don’t care if you’re at work. This quote comes from the “girl who got away” from Robert Downey, Jr.’s character–which is super unrealistic, given that it’s Robert fucking Downey, Jr., but let’s roll with it. The point is that we all probably have that one person who we put on a pedestal and can’t seem to get over. And guess what? That person is not as amazing as we think. More likely than not, he or she has just as many problems, if not more, than we do. So stop drunk texting the girl who kissed you once when you were both drunk, told you the next day she “didn’t want to date anyone” at the time, and then started going out with a guy two weeks later. Just stop it.
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14. "I wasn't looking for a girl like that." - Mitch
"Well, Columbus wasn't looking for America, my man, but that turned out to be pretty okay for everyone." - Beanie, Old School
Yup, it's happened to all of us and if it hasn't happened to you yet, it will. You make plans, you have a vision of how your life is going to play out and then something changes. YOu didn't get into that course, your perfect realtionship wasn't so perfect, your parents split up... It happens. But out of all the things you never thought could happens, you find something you never thought you would. And that something ended up or will end up, being the catalyst you needed.
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15. "Because if we are all gonna die anyway shouldn't we be enjoying ourselves now? You know, I'd like to quit thinking of the present, like right now, as some minor insignificant preamble to something else." - Cynthia, Dazed and Confused
Because when you're in College, or a shit job, or on holidays, you're looking at it like it's a means to get to something or somewhere else. But what does future matter if the present doesn't? Alright, alright, alright.
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16. Sometimes you're flush and sometimes you're bust, and when you're up, it's never as good as it seems, and when you're down, you never think you'll be up again, but life goes on." - Fred Jung, Blow
This is like, so true. You spend your childhood looking at your Mum's purse and seeing a few €20 notes and thinking 'God, wouldn't be amazing to have that kind of money'. Then after 4 years of being broke in College and another few years of being broke in a job, you eventually turn around with a steady income and think, 'Fuck, those noodle eating, cider drinking days were the best'. Because nothing is ever what it seems from a few miles away.
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17. "Happiness only real when shared." - Christopher McCandless, Into The Wild
Possibly the quote that out of every movie I've seen, will resonate with me forever. In the movie he spends his whole life trying to convince the people around him that their lives are empty and that he will find true happiness when he is alone, living off the land and with only himself to depend on. But *spoiler alert* he dies alone, realising that whatever glimpse of happiness he felt was over shadowed by an empty loneliness and when he looked back on his life, the only true moments of elation were when he was with the people he met along the way - sharing those moments together.
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18. “I got robbed by a sweet old lady on a motorized cart. I didn’t even see it comin’!” – Lloyd Christmas, Dumb and Dumber
The lesson here is simple. Everyone is suspicious. Especially innocent looking old people.
